


Shake It Out

by crack_the_shutters



Series: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables [2]
Category: Metal Gear, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Boss is not having your shit Tony, Mentions of Violence, Mentions of suicidal behaviour, Multi, Steve and Natasha fangirl, Tony Stark learns not to piss off Boss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:22:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crack_the_shutters/pseuds/crack_the_shutters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part Two of Three set in ECET’s verse, Shake It Out follows the Boss after her resuscitation after nearly fifty years in a cryogenic sleep following her death at the hands of Naked Snake. SHIELD took her in before anyone could bury her all those years ago and has given her experimental treatments designed to heal her most recent wounds, even those that were fatal, though they don’t know the full extent of what these treatments will do. This will follow the Avengers movie to a point, where it will become completely AU and fully combine MGS and Marvel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shake It Out

**Author's Note:**

> This will be an ongoing piece, until it’s able to be joined together for the larger, overall plot that will reign in the Empty Chairs at Empty Tables-verse.

_Regrets collect like old friends_

_Here to relive your darkest moments_

_I can see no way, I can see no way_

_And all of the ghouls come out to play_

  
  


Life never happened the way you imagined it.

She knew that, had lived through it often enough, had died because of it too.

It wasn’t anything new to her.

This, however, was too new, too wrong, too much...too much.

The chill was still deep in her bones despite having been thawed out for a couple of weeks now, the feeling of it unerring in ways that made her feel extremely ill at ease.  The cold had never been her enemy before, but now it felt like it was anything but the old friend it used to be.

Sweat rolled down her back, over her forehead, dripped into her eyes.  Her workout was heading into its fourth hour and looked to be gaining momentum if anything.  The Boss, or The Joy -- she greatly appreciated being called neither, but no one seemed keen on using her given name -- was on the fast track to working herself into passing out, something that was no longer a surprise for the agents around her even if they had cautioned her against taxing herself that way.  

_You need to take it easy_

_You need to ease back into things_

_The nanites could only do so much, you’re not as young as you used to be--_

She had come close to punching that doctor, only holding herself back because she had prided herself on keeping her cool until even a saint would break.  It wasn’t his fault anyway, she knew he was technically right, but he didn’t know her, none of them did.

Stepping back, she reached up to wipe the moisture from her brow, chewing idly on the mouthguard that they insisted she use as she stared at the sparring dummy that looked like it had seen better days, and all of them had been before she’d woken up.

In a way, she was grateful to be alive again, it seemed to be a theme with her by that point.  Surviving things that ought to have killed her, both by medical and scientific intervention and her own sheer will to survive no matter what.  Of course, she had always had things to live for before, now she was lost, in a new world, a new life, all on her own and without even a piece of driftwood to keep her afloat.

_They should have left her to die._

Her move had been called suicidal and if she were honest with herself, that was exactly what it was.  Adamska was old enough to care for himself and didn’t think of her much as a mother, her lover had been killed by her own hand in order to save their son, her protege was given the mission to kill her and the rest of her unit, to put an end to the old and usher in the new--She had had nothing left to live for and had given her hope to John to carry, to keep the flame of true freedom and patriotism alive and bright.

Her final word were supposed to be just that; her final words.  She hadn’t spoken since she’d been woken up, refusing to let them be anything but, not that it was hard for her to keep silent.  She had nothing she wanted to say, nothing to ask, she didn’t want to know about the world at large and all she truly wanted was to go back to sleep and just...not wake up.  She wanted her Sorrow again, for without him, she had no Joy, and she certainly was no ** _Boss_**.

She leaned to the side, stretching out a bit, her face not giving away the fact that every motion now was tugging and pulling at scars that had grown thick and stiff from the heavy cold they had put her in, leaving her feeling like she had just been burned all over again only without the deep seated flaming agony that she’d been in before.  

A quick turn of her head sent a loud series of cracks echoing around her as her spine realigned itself correctly, the weight of her longer than before hair making her frown slightly.  She was torn on lopping it all off to what it had been before, or just leaving it alone since she was moderately determined to not remain around for long anyway.

A wrapped hand rubbed her neck for a moment before she moved closer to the dummy, eyeing it speculatively before she let out an annoyed sound, her desire to whale away on it ebbing as quickly as it had come over her earlier.  She had no idea why she thought this helped her feel any better when all it did was remind her of how alone she was.

A small shake of her head and she turned, grabbing a water bottle as she headed for the locker room, ignoring the looks she got along the way.  She had little regard for modesty in her mood and her lack of caring about anyone seeing her wreck of a body had turned into a source of intrigue for the agents and others that made it a habit of working out when she made her way down to the gym.

The scars from the burns when her re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere were terrible enough, she figured, but there were the older scars from her times fighting during WW2 and newer ones from her time at Grozny Grad, including the one on her temple, the only reminder that the nanites hadn’t been able to fully heal away.  She was somewhat grateful for that, since it reminded her of everything she’d done and all she had given up in hopes that it would lead to a better tomorrow.

The most prominent, of course, was the one that dissected her stomach and dipped below the waistband of the sweats she wore.  It was ugly, crude, and as John had always told her, it looked like a snake.  In fact, it was why he had taken the code name that he had, it had been a sort of honoring of her, or so he’d said.  It was her proudest scar, but also her most shameful.  Her only son, her one thing that had been hers to create from practically nothing, had come from that scar.  Cut out of her on the shores of Normandy, she had only seconds with him before the medic had run with him to get him out of the line of fire and she had a fight to finish still; she’d never realized until after that she had been doomed from the start to never raise him.

Her Adamska had been told about her, of course, but she never got to meet him until he was nearly grown and outside of her influence anyway.  She had been grateful to have at least met him before her life had been declared forfeit, though if she were honest, she worried about what he had become after, if John had kept his promise to watch over him or if maybe he had found himself following in her footsteps and he hadn’t even made it to fifty.

She had his file sitting in her apartment, along with John’s and Eva’s and even Volgin and Ivan’s--every file they thought she needed to be able to catch herself up on the times with, they had given it to her (within reason of course), but she had yet to even peek at them.  She didn’t think she could handle it if she read that anyone she left alive had ended up dead, or killed, or even something worse.  

Trying to push the dark thoughts aside, she stripped down on her way into the shower, tossing the sweat-soaked clothing to the side.  The sound of someone already occupying the space didn’t bother her really, she was used to close quarters bathing with COBRA unit, and god knows she had seen her fair share of just about everything when those happened.  Personal space and modesty were things that lacked back in her days as a soldier.  

 

\----------

 

With her still damp hair now braided clumsily and coiled into a bun, Boss made her way down the hallway of SHIELD headquarters, heading for an office she wanted nothing to do with, but the man inside technically owned her--Or at least, she owed him in a way that she couldn’t ignore.  

_Nice to know some things never change._  She thought to herself, shaking her head slightly to knock back the thought that were trying to climb their way up.  She had to admit that Fury was the most bluntly honest man she’d had the displeasure of meeting in all her days, though she had heard whispers that it was a ruse.  Somehow, she couldn’t find it in herself to be surprised at the possibility.  

God knew she’d had enough experience with that before.

 

\-----------

 

“So, anyone met the new chick yet?”  Tony leaned back in his chair, stretching out his overworked limbs.  “Since we’re already on this whole recruitment thing anyway, anyone know her or know about her?”

“She’s not a _chick_ , Stark.”  The blonde to the other side of the table snapped.  Tony should have known that Rogers would jump his ass about being politically correct, or whatever.  “She’s...Well, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her before.”

“Most information on her was deleted after her death.”  Natasha shrugged slightly as she slid into her seat, “The only surviving files are the ones that SHIELD kept itself, and whatever the Patriots have.”

“You can’t delete people’s memories of her, though.”  The look of annoyance was clear on the Captain’s face.

“Most people didn’t want to talk about her after that, or were cowed into it by certain governments and officials.”

“...That doesn’t answer anything I asked.”  Stark piped up, waving his hand a bit, “Besides, why should I know about her?”

“She knew your father, sort of.”  Steve’s face fell at the thought of Howard.  No matter what Tony said about the man’s later failings in life, the engineer had been somewhat of a friend of his, he owed his life to him in a few different ways.  “She and her unit used to work in unison with mine for some of the larger missions, or the ones where running in wearing the american flag was probably not the ideal way to gain information.”

“And that was while she was still pregnant too, aren’t I right?”  Natasha’s lips curled at that, her grin wide.  It was clear that between her and Steve they were going to have the hero-worship thing covered.

Steve nodded, “And let me tell you, if you so much as hinted that she couldn’t handle it because she wasn’t as lithe as she was without the little one to carry, she’d have you on your back in ten seconds flat.”

“She sounds terrifying then.”  Tony’s nose scrunched, his next words cut off as Fury strode in, a silent blonde at his heel alongside Hill.  

“That’s because she is.”  The Director smirked, “And she doesn’t need any fancy suit to accomplish that.  Everyone, I’d like you to meet The Boss.”

“...You’re kidding me, right?”

“Stark, does it look like I’m kidding you?”  Fury’s attention never wavered from Tony as he shot him a glaring look.  “She goes by codename only, and as far as I am fuckin’ concerned, she never should have given the title up to begin with, so she stays The Boss.”

“It makes her sound like she’s above you--Oh--bad word choice Stark.”  Tony shuddered to himself, earning a muffled snicker from Natasha and a double glare from Fury and Rogers both.  Boss, however, looked nearly unmoved, though he could have sworn he’d seen the corner of her lip twitch, like she wanted to smile.

“ _Anyway--_ ”  Fury rolled his eye, “--She’s on the team now, and I’m not hearing any arguments from anyone.  You wanna argue, you take it up with her, I’m sure SHIELD will take the medical bills out of your salary.  Now, you have a little time on your hands before we have anything useful for you to do, so play nice and try to get to know each other, and for fuck’s sake, don’t get yourselves killed.  You’re actually useful right now and I don’t need the extra paperwork at the moment.”

The snap of his jacket was his dismissal as he turned and walked out, Hill following after though the blonde stayed where she was, eyeing them all cooly except for Steve.  

“So.... _The Boss_ , huh?”  Tony was the first to move, getting up from the chair and circling her like a wolf, albeit a shaggy haired and clearly sleep deprived one.  “Interesting name.”

She debated on answering, she could easily keep her silence, but something about the man prowling around her begged for a reply.  “It’s not what I would have picked.”  

“She finally speaks.”  Natasha looked pleased, even as she kept her seat.  

“Didn’t have much reason to before--He looks too much like Howard to ignore though.”  Boss could see the way Tony tensed at that.  Hm.  So he and Howard clearly hadn’t gotten along for whatever reason, not that she could blame him.  Howard was an acquired taste that most never got.

“You look like a stiff breeze could knock you over.”  Tony countered, drawing a downward twitch to her lips.  

“A stiff breeze, huh?”  She moved then, her steps slow and measured as they circled one another, “Maybe if it had something more than just wind to it.”  

“Uh huh.”  Tony lofted a brow at that, “You don’t look all that impressive to me, you know.  A little too...mundane...if you get my drift.”

“Is he really--?”  Steve looked flabbergasted at the way Tony was going on.

“You don’t know Stark well yet.  This is his version of getting to know someone.”  Natasha motioned for Steve to stay back.  “Don’t worry, I’m sure she won’t hurt him too badly.”

“Mundane, hm?”  Boss hadn’t wanted to get into anything like this, especially on a day like today, but when the opportunity presented itself, well, she couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, could she?  “Explain.”

“Come on--Explain?  Really?”  Tony gave her an incredulous look at that, “You look like a leaf could knock you over, you’re clearly not in the best of shape, if what Capsicle there says is true then you’re old enough to be my mother and I’m fairly sure that unless you have something like his serum up your sleeve, your joints wouldn’t be able to handle the kind of fighting we’re about to get into--!”

The last word ended in an upward inflected yelp as Boss made her move.  He had stopped skulking just long enough for her to take a few quick steps and slide between his legs, her arms wrapping around his waist as she threw him into a not-so-gentle suplex.  

She held him there for a moment before quickly releasing it, but she rolled him over and laced her legs over his to pin them down, straddling his waist with a long knife unsheathed and buried in the rubberized deck underneath them, close to his ear.

If that hadn’t frightened Tony, then the wide smirk and the fire dancing behind her eyes ought to.

“You were saying?”

Natasha cleared her throat at that, crossing her legs a bit as she struggled to keep her face straight.  “If we’re done with the insults, Stark, I think we should try to strategize or at least figure out strengths and weaknesses so we can actually work together--”

“This one’s got an ego, that’s his weakness.”  Boss commented as she got up, then easily hauled Tony to his feet with her, though he didn’t stay standing for long.  He sank into a chair and stared at her, in awe or fear she wasn’t sure.  

The knife was yanked out of the flooring and re-sheathed, her gaze turning to the other two, “Everyone knows mine already, Rogers’ is almost the same, not too sure about you though.”  She nodded to Natasha. 

“It’s...less a some _thing_ as it is a some _one_.”  Natasha felt she could be open with her, it might just save their lives.

“...Then you’re in the same boat as us.”  Boss started to comment further, but a sharp ring in the headset made her pause.  The others followed suit.

_We have a lock on Loki.  Everyone suit up and move out._ Fury cut off, leaving them to scramble to get ready.


End file.
